Workshop for private higher education institutions

The Quality Enhancement ProjectFocus Area 1: Enhancing academics as teachers

SA population 51.8 million

No. 15-19 year olds 5.0 million

No. 20-24 year-olds 5.4 million

No. HE students 938 200

20-24 year old participation rate 17%

Black African 14%

White 57%

Key statistics for 2011

Throughput rates for 3-year degree 2006 student cohort in public HEIs (excluding UNISA)

(VitalStats Public Higher Education 2011, CHE)

“The data on the quality of university education is disturbing. South African universities are mid-level in terms of knowledge production, with low participation, high attrition rates and insufficient capacity to produce the required levels of skills. They are still characterised by historical inequities and distortions.”

National Development Plan 2012

How does higher education provide meaningful education to an ever increasing, large number of very diverse students that will enable them to succeed in life and employment in a globalised and constantly changing environment with increasingly constrained human and material resources?

The big question

The enhancement of student learning with a view to producing an increased number of graduates with attributes that are personally, professionally and socially valuable.

1. enhanced student learning, leading to an

2. increased number of graduates that have

3. improved graduate attributes

STUDENT SUCCESS

Focus of the Quality Enhancement Project

Both institutionally-based and nationally coordinated activities

Institutional enhancement

HE system enhancement

1. Enhancing academics as teachers

2. Enhancing student support and development

3. Enhancing the learning environment

4. Enhancing course and programme enrolment management

Initial focus areas (2014-2015)

The days when universities catered for a small, academically well-prepared cadre of well-off young people are gone. Today’s students are diverse in every way–academic background, culture, language, socio-economic status and even age.

And there are many more students (from 2000 to 2007 there was a 53% increase in the number of tertiary students globally). This makes the quality of university teaching much more important.

Enhancing academics as teachers

Teaching

AssessmentCurriculum development

Focus area 1 Creating an enabling institutional environment

GROUP DISCUSSION

Workload Does your institution have a workload model for

academics?

What is included in it?

Is it applied consistently across the institution?

Who is responsible for allocating work?

What recourse does an academic have if they feel overloaded?

If there is no model, how is work allocated fairly?

Summarise useful ideas and challenges discussed.

Workload models include:• Hours allocated to face-to-face teaching, including supervision of

projects (40)• Administrative activities, such as meetings, committees, QA activities

and teaching-related administration (35)• Assessment and moderation, both internal and external (33)• Preparation time for class, lectures, tutorials, practicals and

assessment (27)• Student support and consultations (24)• Research and personal development as a professional (24)• Broad institutional responsibilities, e.g. marketing, industry liaison

(16)• Development of new learning programmes, curriculum renewal and

preparation of materials (17)• Community and professional engagement (11)• Staff development activities (9)• Staff to student ratio (7)• Nature of teaching, e.g. practical, theory, work-integrated learning (6)• Professional level of the academic and level of the students (5)

Responses- workload models (44 Y, 14 N)

Workload models need to realistic and consistently applied. Need time for, e.g.

Developing course and programme curricula Preparing presentations, materials and other resources Contact (class) time with students Student consultations Assessment Course coordination Meetings with tutors Managing work-integrated learning Liaison with industry, professionals in the field Own professional development Research

Workload

GROUP DISCUSSION

Conditions of serviceStaff can be permanent or temporary (contract), part-time or full-time.

What challenges does the employment of non-permanent staff present for the quality of teaching?

Do employment contracts ensure that all the responsibilities of a lecturer are met, such as time for student consultations? If not, who picks up the extra responsibilities?

How is the teaching quality of non-permanent staff managed?

Summarise useful ideas and challenges discussed.

In SA student HE numbers increased 28% from 2004-12 and permanent academic staff by 13%. Universities are employing more and more temporary staff, both part-time and full-time.

How do contracts for temporary staff:- Cater for professional development- Ensure students get access to lecturer for consultations

How do institutions keep good staff who want job security?

Conditions of service

GROUP DISCUSSION

Performance appraisal of teaching

How is teaching appraised?

What does good teaching look like?

Is there a performance management system at your institution? If so, what part does teaching performance play in a lecturer’s appraisal?

Are there any requirements for formal qualifications or professional development in university teaching?

Summarise useful ideas and challenges discussed.

The Academy provides a recognition and accreditation service which enables staff providing teaching and/or learning support to be recognised, depending on their role and experience as:

Descriptor 1: An Associate Fellow of the AcademyDescriptor 2: A Fellow of the AcademyDescriptor 3: A Senior Fellow of the AcademyDescriptor 4: A Principal Fellow of the Academy

These designations are nationally recognised and portable between institutions.

UK Higher Education Academy

The UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education

Areas of Activity• Design and plan

learning activities and/or programmes of study

• Teach and/or support learning

• Assess and give feedback to learners

• Develop effective learning environments and approaches to student support and guidance

• Engage in continuing professional development in subjects/disciplines and their pedagogy, incorporating research, scholarship and the evaluation of professional practices

Core Knowledge • The subject material• Appropriate methods for

teaching, learning and assessing in the subject area and at the level of the academic programme

• How students learn, both generally and within their subject/ disciplinary area(s)

• The use and value of appropriate learning technologies

• Methods for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching

• The implications of quality assurance and quality enhancement for academic and professional practice with a particular focus on teaching

Professional Values• Respect individual

learners and diverse learning communities

• Promote participation in higher education and equality of opportunity for learners

• Use evidence-informed approaches and the outcomes from research, scholarship and continuing professional development

• Acknowledge the wider context in which higher education operates recognising the implications for professional practice

Excellent teachingVIDEO CLIP

“ Pedagogical competence has been considered to be the individual teacher’s concern for far too long. To improve the quality of teaching and students’ learning, teaching has to really become the concern of the entire university. We have to regard pedagogical competence just as we regard scholarly proficiency.” [Ryegård et al (Eds ) (2010). A Swedish Perspective on Pedagogical Competence]

“Institutions need to ensure there is manifest and actual parity of esteem for teaching and research in their core identity and culture and expressed in their systems of rewards, incentives, promotions and priorities.” [report to EU Commission]

Rewards and recognition

Requirements

• Induction or Orientation programmes that covers the different aspects of teaching and learning (11)

Opportunities

• Staff members are encouraged to attend internal & external workshops focused on teaching and learning, assessment and curriculum (courses, seminars, training) (55)

• Junior staff are attached to more experienced senior staff as part of mentoring programme (13)

• Staff engage in peer learning both formally and informally focusing on topics such as pedagogy, assessment, classroom management etc. (8)

• Staff members encouraged and funded to do a qualification in education (6)

• Awards focused on rewarding excellence in teaching (2)

Responses-professional development

Academics as teachersVIDEO CLIP

“The need for professional training as a teacher at primary and secondary school level is generally taken for granted but remarkably, when it comes to higher education there seems to be an all too common assumption that such professional teacher training is not necessary, as if it is somehow an idea unworthy of the professional academic.”

[Report to the European Commission on Improving the Quality of Teaching and Learning in Europe’s Higher Education Institutions (2013).]

University teaching is one of the few professions in the world for which people need no qualifications, no experience and no knowledge. But that is changing….

Professional development

“More and more [EU] universities require proof of teaching skills from job applicants and their agreement to continuously update those skills.

[Report to the EU Commission]

In the Netherlands, for example, every academic is required to have a University Teaching Qualification.

Teaching competence

GROUP DISCUSSION

Professional Development as teachers

What knowledge and skills are needed to be a good university teacher?

How are academics at your institution expected to obtain this knowledge and skills?

How can your institution improve lecturers’ teaching competence?

Summarise useful ideas and challenges discussed.

In Sweden every academic must do the equivalent of 400 hours (40 credits in our system) of pedagogical training and be able to demonstrate pedagogical competence to be permanently appointed. Teaching skills are only one component.

“Pedagogical competence can be described as the ability and the will to regularly apply the attitude, knowledge and skills that promote the learning of the teacher’s students. This shall take place in accordance with the goals that are being aimed at and the existing framework and presupposes continuous development of the teacher’s own competence and course design.” (Uppsala University)

Pedagogical competence

Model for pedagogical competence

Olsson and Toxa (2013). European Journal of Higher Education, 3 (1), 40-61.

Innovative teaching for the future[VIDEO CLIP]

We look forward to a time when the new ideas on models of learning, on interdisciplinarity, integrated learning, on team pedagogy, on deep teaming etc. will be mainstreamed, inspiring a new generation of students to reach levels of intellectual literacy that stretch them beyond merely 'good enough' to 'excellent.

…while [removing] many barriers to the full professionalization of higher education teachers is some way off, it is a goal worth setting and a destination which is our best chance of achieving excellence in teaching across the EU's higher education sector. It is also an important vehicle for ironing out the vast disparities in educational outcomes which are not the best use of the resource that is the brainpower of our people. It also makes the profession of higher education teacher an exciting one, more fufilling, dynamically self-interrogating, and therefore self-updating and useful. It has the capacity to shift the learning environment into a very different and much more attractive kilter. [report to EU commission]